Seussical the Musical

I love musical theater... so do my kids. I took all three to see the local middle school's production of Seussical the Musical this week. Our two favorite babysitters were in the show and did a fantastic job. Anja wont sit still for much, but she will for a great show! Way to go ladies!

Utah's Rock!

Previous post explain why we bleed so red at our house... last Sunday's birthday party should convert the rest of you...

Rich has an uncle with downs. David turned 50 years old (a major milestone for someone with down syndrome) last week. He still lives with his 80-something year old mom-Rich's grandma- in West Jordan where the family can help take car of both of them. David is a real character who will tell anyone who will listen about the University of Utah football team.

A few years back, David got a hold of the phone number to the sports department at the U and made it past all the secretaries to Coach Whittingham's desk, and the coach answered. David then told the coach how to improve his team so they could start winning, chastised the coach for using foul language on the field and got mad that some of the players weren't playing more. Guess the coach got a kick out of it and for the past four or five years, David has become the coach's bud.

Whittingham and his wife and kids along with a few players visit David at his home a few times a year. David owns more autographed UofU stuff than anyone I know.

Back to the birthday... so David's ward through a fun party for him on Sunday and invited the coach and his family. I don't know the Whittinghams personally, but I can tell you, they know how to make a young man feel special. It was amazing to watch all the star-struck people trying to get the coach's attention only to have the coach polity move the focus back to David.

The real fun came when the coach's mom was playing with Anja in the back and made the mistake of trying to hold Bebe (bitty baby). There was a lot of screaming. the Whittinghams are great people who find time in there personal lives to make David feel special-- because they can not because they have to. So, wouldn't you bleed red if David was your relative?

Happy Birthday!

We are going to China

Yeah, I wish. But, don't tell Jensen.

He studied China in class for the last two weeks and announced this is where our next family vacation will be. He's watching some cartoon that uses Chinese words (a lot like Dora does with Spanish) to learn Chinese and has invited the entire extended family.

When my parents went on a cruise to the Bahamas last week, he asked them to find out two things: 1) is the food good, 2) is the boat safe. He then told them he needed to know because we are taking a boat to China--next month! When I explained that China is too far to go by boat, he said, "fine then we can just take the boat to Asia and take a plane to China."

He will not let this go!!!

He spent a day online looking up all his favorite foods to make sure they eat them in China (McDonald's and Oreos can both be easily found).

He asks for Chinese food, wants to look at pictures of the Great Wall on the Internet, even asked to get his passport ready! We did get a tax return this year (first time!!) but not enough to go to China, sorry Jensen.

Maybe next year.

Togas anyone?

Carter has an amazing music teacher at school. C. Shackelford rocks! She decided to have the entire 3rd grade--all 75 of those critters--participate in the Utah Festival Opera, Operas for Kids program sponsored by Michael Ballam's group. She orchestrated the financing, getting the student teachers from Utah State University (one over music, one over art and one over drama) and worked her tail off to have these kids create three original operas.

Carter's group wrote an opera called, "The Big Switch". The boys of Greece are tired of having to work outside all day and want to be inside, where the girls are, out of the sun. The girls want to switch too, so they ask the Gods to make the "Big Switch" and with a flash of light and an exploding volcano, the switch is made. But, when a war looms, the girls want to switch back and the boys are hungry because they can't cook--so they ask the Gods to switch them back...and they tell them to figure it out themselves.

Who knew Carter could sing? He did an awesome job! The show was 20 minutes long, took four months to create and was awesome! I love the arts.

This is what happnes when daddy leaves...

Dad left for a early Sunday morning meeting... this is what mom found when she got out of the shower...

Guess who can pull a chair over the the high cupboard, climb on the counter and reach the washable (thank goodness) markers?

A birthday bash fit for a two-year old

It all started with breakfast served in a cone (put cereal in ice cream cone-- it's way cool if you're two).

Ooh and ah over cake mom made (I'm pretty proud of my first ever cake creation!)

Open presents! A new doll car seat (now that Bitty Baby is back from the American Doll hospital she needs to be safe in the car).

In she goes...

Just what Anja wanted! Clothes! Only a girl loves this kind of stuff.

More dresses, so happy!!!

Best gift of all was from Mom and Dad-- this cool trampoline that fits in the house. Grandma B gave her the cute new pink dancin' skirt that Anja quickly put on and started to jump in. She's facing the window because she can see her reflection as she jumps.

Sugar, sugar give me sugar! Happy birthday, babe!

I wont cry, I wont!

My baby is two tomorrow. Anja will move past being a baby and officially take on the title of toddler. A huge part of me couldn't be happier to move out of this phase but a tiny bit, maybe 5%, is sad. She is our last and our only girl. She completes that whole "mother-daughter" circle of life thing for me.

Our boys were well thought out; a combination of science, fertility drugs and faith. Anja was just a gift. She just came.

There's a story in our family that involves the spirit of a little girl and a very eager adult who was looking for Divine inspiration. What they received was a visit from a child who simply said, "wait." Leave it to Anja to be the one to tell us how it would be!

Her name is Russian meaning favor and grace. It fit her before she was born. In fact, she's the only one who was named before the birth.

Anja makes me crazy and is probably the type of child my parents wished on me when I was her age. I have no doubt that she is our strong willed spirit--anyone can tell that-- but she's also my girlly-girl who wants me to paint her nails and braid her hair.

Happy birthday, bug! Mommy loves you!

Clear and Free

We got the official word in the mail this weekend, Rich is clear and free of any skin cancer on his back! Yippee! So glad that drama in our life is over. The biopsies showed clean margins all around. Darn those high school football players who don't wear long shirts over their pads while practicing in 90-degree heat. But, then again, I really enjoyed watching that.

More Marshmello pictures...

The clean up was a nightmare... took a bunch of us and a lot of hot water to get all the smashed 'mello's off the floor..

Tarina felt like we needed to properly record the amount of men who were on the floor working for posterity (and for their wives).

This was the floor before we started.. it looked like it had snowed when they were done.

Kyle's smile says it all-- "this is cool!"

Marshmello Shootout

This is what happens when Rich gets made EQ pres... the fist activity is a marshmallow gun war. Huge success, huge mess tons of fun for all.